Abstract:
Sago processing produces both liquid and solid waste (uyung). Uyung is sago bark that still has benefit for raw material. The utilization of uyung may reduce the waste as well as increase the income of local people. This study aimed to determine the physical and mechanical characters of uyung from two sago cultivars, spiny and unspiny sago from two different habitats (peatland and clay soil), in order to provide basic information of uyung for bioprospecting efforts. Two trees of each sago cultivar from different habitat were examined, each tree was divided into eight parts (100 cm each). Three replications of uyung (30 x 2 cm) were collected from each part, with total samples were 384. The parameters observed were physical and mechanical characters of uyung. This research was carried out using a nested complete randomized design. The data was analized with ANOVA using SPSS 17.0. The morphological observation of uyung showed that uyung color of both cultivars was reddish-brown with dark-brown stripes, the surface was smooth and shiny, hard, but easily broken. Based on the physical character observation, the first part of spiny sago from clay soil habitat was considered as the best uyung, due to its lowest water content (5,72%), highest fiber density (1,28 g/cm2) and highest specific gravity (1,21). Based on the mechanical character observation, the first part of spiny sago from clay soil habitat was also considered as the best part due to its highest flexural strength (216 kg/cm2),
highest elasticity strength (31.725 kg/cm2), and highest compression strength (244,73
kg/cm2).
